Ironing machine



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. W. CRAW. IRONING MACHINE.

No. 593,566. Patented Nov. 16,1897.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. W. GRAW.

IRONING MACHINE.

No. 593,566. Patented Nov. 16,1897.

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Uivrrnn STATES PATENT rrrcn.

JOHN W. CRAW, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

lRONlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,566, dated November 16, 1897. Application filed February 2, 1897. Serial No. 621,665. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. CRAW, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ironing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved method of ironing, and I have to this end constructed the herein described and illustrated machine and shall in this specification outline the structural elements, of which some are familiar, but have been arranged differently in my machine in order to fulfil the object I have in view, in addition to which I also embody several new principles and mechanical combinations entirely unknown to this class of machinery.

.The object of my invention is to feed the material into the machine and have it pass from roller to roller by its own weightin other words, by gravitation; secondly, by the arrangement and action of the rollers and their steam-heated reservoirs with each other to cause the material to be finished on both sides with a smooth well-ironed surface.

To accomplish my obj ect,I have constructed a spring device that will control the pressure of each roller against the steam-chest, so as to prevent the continuous bearing of the roller against the reservoir or steam-chest, and have devised means by which the said spring devices can be controlled from a handwheel on each side of the machine, and through the instrumentality of the levers supporting the rollers pivoted to the frame the rollers when swung out from the frame are made easy of access when adjustment and repairs are necessary. These points will be found covered and brought out by the novel construction of my machine, including the arrangement of a series of rollers having the same diameter with their centers in a vertical line, which has had the beneficial results as herein described, all of which I shall now Figure 1 illustrates a front view of my improved ironing-machine, showing the mutual position of the rollers and steam-chests with regard to each other and the pivotal action, as in the instance of the roller E the cap of spring device D removed and the bearings of the levers C out through, showing the journals of the rollers lying in them and showing also the gearing operating the rollers. Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1, illustrating the mode of attachment of the steam-chests and rollers to the side frame, but for the sake of clearness in illustration the link system connected with the springs is omitted in both Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 3 is a section on line q of Fig. 1, showing all the rollers and steamchests cut through and indicating by the arrow-heads the travel of the material in its downward course from the curved board M to the apron N and also the whole connection of the gearing system. Fig. 4 illustrates the same front view of my machine as Fig. 1, omitting the chests and showing the connecting-links and their ultimate attachment to the hand-wheels. Fig. 5 is a side View illustrating the same elements shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail view of my improved springcap, the supporting-lever of the roller, and the cam mounted on the bearin g of said lever. Fig. 7 is an end view of Fig. 6; and Fig. Sis a top view of the sleeve 0 as shown in Fig. 6.

A indicates one side frame of my machine. The other side frame A is of the same construction. Between these frames are attached four rollers B, B B and B supported in bearings in levers 0, C C and C These levers are held in their respective positions by spring devices D, D D and D bolted to the frame by bolts E. As they are all constructed alike and similar in their action I shall only describe one in connection with detail view, Fig. 6. Said spring device is composed of a cap D having sliding in it a box D with a pin D projecting from the bottom thereof. Lying in the boX D and coiled around the "pin D is a spring D compressed between the bottom of the box and an externally-screw-cut nut D screwed into a similarly-screw-cut aperture in cap D and sliding loose on the pin D consequently controlling the action of the spring, thus regulating the pressure of box D on the cam, and when the cam projection is moved out of the way presses continuously inward in the direction of the arrow-head. Controlling this inward pressure is a screw-cut nut D fitted on the screw-cut end of pin D gaining thus this point that no pressure will be exerted on the bearing of the roller having cam attached or on the lever itself, and consequently no pressure will be exerted on the roller when the cam is turned out of the way of box D which was the object I had in View, thus pre-.

venting scorching of the material passing between the chest and the roller. In this connection it will be as well to describe one of the supporting-levers C its action and thereupon dependent usefulness in permitting the roller 13, if out of order, to be repaired or adj usted without detaching the said roller from the machine. The lever C (see Figs. 2, 4, and 5) being pivoted to the frame byv bolt g and supporting at its other end in the bearing F one of the journals II of the roller B it'will readily be seen, as illustrated by the dotted line (see Fig. 2) indicatinglever O in connection with rollerB that when the cap containing the spring is unscrewed from the frame the two levers can easily be swung oute ward, and, carrying the roller with them, it will beseen that the roller will be accessible to repairs, adjustment, and re-coverin g. In having described these rollers B and B, with their supporting-levers and spring devices, I have described them all, as their construction and action are exactly alike.

Attached between the frames A and A are, furthermore, heated reservoirs 'I, I 1 and 1 each of which reservoirs have semicircular concave surfaces, into which cavities the respective rollers are pressed with just the necessary tension required to givethe material the exact smooth surface required from said reservoirs or steam-chests. Taking I as an example, it is attached between the two frames by having the two extensions K and K terminating in journals K and K, (see I in Fig. 1,) secured in the bearings K and K cast, respectively, on each frame, so that the steam-chesthas a pivotal action on its journals, being secured to these bearings by Washers and nuts.

It is thus seen that in having a certain number'of rollers with their corresponding concave reservoirs, which reservoirs have for this special construction been furnished with a prolonged lip at the bottom extending past the center line'thro ugh the roller centers,arran ge'd as'ab'ove described, a difierent method of ironing has been attained as differing from the methods attending other construc'tions','where, fo'rinstan'ce, the concave reservoirs are rigidlyattached to the framework. .These reservoirs in their construction are caused to pass the center line w 'y with the tapered lips L, so that they will feed, aided by gravity, material into the next set of reservoirs and rollers. In other words, these lips must be placed with such accuracy above the mouth or opening formed by the underneath-placed reservoir and roller that the material, partly aided by the motion given to it by the revolving of the roller above and partly by its gravity, will be caught in the said mouth and proceed on its downward course in the machine from one set to the other. This can best be seen in Fig. 3, showing a sectional view of reservoirs and rollers, the traveling of the material being indicated by the arrow-heads. Referring to the said view as explaining the entire working method of the machine, al though forming no part of my invention, it will also be seen here how thematerial is fed from the top of the stand M, having a recess M, containing the 7 material ready for the process, which, having been fed into the first set of reservoir and roller over the curved part M of the stand M, passes from one set to another until it has passed between the bottom roller B and reservoir I, where itis caught up by the apron N, which, connected appropriately with the other driving-gear of the machine, carries the finished material to the table 0. The means for giving reyolving motion to the rollers arethe gear-wheels attached to the end of the roller-journal supported in frame A and connect in the following manner with the motive power, Corresponding to each roller B, B B and B are attached spur-gears WV, WViand W Gearing into gear WV is a pinion W which, as it is keyed on the same'sleeve P as the gear WV, said sleeve revolving on a pin P attached to the frame A, the pinion and gear will revolve with it, and gear W5, gear; ing into a pinion W will be revolved by the said pinion W attached to one end of a shaft V, which is secured in bearings onthe two frames, and'at the end opposite to the one carryingpinion W is a pulley which receives motion from some motive power or other, thus transferring the proper motion through the above-mentioned gears to the rollersBQB, B and B". The apron N, as seen in Fig, 3, is connected with the previously-mentioned gearing by pinion N, gearing into thespurwheel WV, and as this revolves it will carry the apron alongover the rollers, over which it is suspended sufficiently tight to prevent sliding. V a

The mechanical means that make the diff ferent spring devices act in unison Ishall next describe. v actsupon a cam or projection 0 part of a sleeve 0 moving loose on the bearing F of a'lever 0 This sleeve h'asan arm Cipro-w jecting from it, to which is pivoted a link C Link 0 on both sides of themachine connects in like manner connecting-link O connects the cam-sleeves attached to levers C and C ICC and the link 0 connects the cam-sleeves on the levers 0 C Connecting this link system, formed by the three links 0 C and 0 with a crank-lever C is a link C The cranklever C is attached to a rod 0 which is pivoted between the frames A and A, and two hand-wheels G are attached to said rod 0 The entire movement moving the cam projections away from contact with boxes D speaking of both side frames, so that they will occupy, relative to the said boxes, the dotted position of cam-sleeve shown in Fig. 6, will thus be seen to beas follows: When either of the hand-wheels C (see Fig. 5) are given half a turn, so that crank-lever C occupies the position diametrically opposite, (indicated by the dotted delineation,) the link O connected with the crank-lever 0 will be elevated, and with that, being connected in the above-described manner, the other three pairs of links 0 C and C will be elevated, and as they are pivoted to the arm of the camsleeve lying around its respective bearing on the lever will bring the cam projection away from the box D and consequently away from any spring action, thus stopping the pressure of the roller against its corresponding steamcllest, which was the desired object.

In describing the component parts of this machine its mode of operation has been indicated so clearly that no summing up of the working thereof would seem to be necessary.

My machine has been found by me to possess the attributes, first, of giving a smooth desirable surface on both sides of the articles being operated upon; secondly, of preventing the crumpling or creasing better than other machines, and, finally, the adjustable arrangement of rollers and the spring devices controlling their pressure against the respective chests obviates the scorching of the material; but

What I particularly claim, and pray protection for byLetters Patent of the United States of America, is

In a machine of the character set forth, a series of rollers arranged vertically according to a center line through their individual centers, each operating in combination with a heated reservoir or steam-chest, a pair of levers having bearings, pivoted in the side frames, supporting the journals of each of said rollers, a loose sleeve having a cam projection pivoted to each bearing, a cap bolted to the side frame ad jacent to each of the said bearings, a box, sliding in said cap, having a pin, an externally-screw-cut nut, fitting into a similarly-screw-cut aperture in the cap lying loose around the pin, a spring compressed between the bottom of said box and the nut screwed into the cap, and, surrounding the pin, the aforesaid sleeve with a cam projection having an arm, said arm pivoted to one of a series of links, one of said links, on each side of the machine, pivoted by an intermediate-link to a crank secured to a rod pivoted between the two side frames, said rod operated by two hand-wheels, for the purposes as set forth, substantially as it is illustrated and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of January, 1897.

JOHN W. CRAW/ Witnesses:

ORIGIN MELVILLE MILLER, AUGUST M. TREscHow. 

